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What is the NCAA?

The NCAA stands for the National Collegiate Athletic Association and is a largely voluntary association of approximately 1200 American college and universities (as well as one Canadian university) which have joined together to govern athletic competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount. The NCAA has an annual budget of approximately $6 billion.

The NCAA was founded in 1906 as the Intercollegiate Athletic Association and became the NCAA in 1910. The NCAA is currently headquartered in Indianapolis and oversees approximately 23 different sports, most of which are played by men and women, with men’s football and men’s basketball having the highest profiles.

For all sports except football, the NCAA uses a three-division setup of Division 1, Division 2 and Division 3. Division 1 and Division 2 schools can offer athletic scholarships to student athletes, while Division 3 schools may not offer athletic scholarships. Generally speaking, schools with larger student bodies compete in Division 1, while smaller schools compete in Divisions 2 and 3.

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